Michaud, who has been in the House since 2003, and still maintains his working-class credentials with membership in the United Steelworkers, explained the decision to come out partly in response to "whisper campaigns, insinuations and push polls" about his personal life.

"Allow me to save them the trouble with a simple, honest answer: 'Yes I am," he said in an op-ed column. "But why should it matter?'"

Being gay, he said, would not affect his ability to govern.

"For me, it's just a part of who I am, as much as being a third-generation mill worker or a lifelong Mainer."

Michaud said he had not planned to discuss his personal life or that of his opponents, and that he was raised to believe people should be judged by their character.

"Growing up in a large Franco-American Catholic family, it's never been in my nature to talk about myself. I write this now merely to let my opponents and the outside interests who fund them know that I am not ashamed of who I am."

If elected, Michaud would become the first openly-gay governor in the United States, according to BuzzFeed.

Other openly-gay House members all are Democrats: Colorado's Jared Polis, Rhode Island's David Cicilline, New York's Sean Patrick Maloney, Wisconsin's Mark Pocan, Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema, and California's Mark Takano. Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin, also a Democrat, is the first openly-gay U.S. senator.